He’s a collaborator, a people person. He gets along well with others. He doesn’t mind meetings. He likes group work.

And all this time he thought he was just a numbers guy, a behind-the-scenes operator, a researcher who would run the studies, look at the data and make recommendations to the people in the front office.

After all the hours, months and years spent crunching figures, analyzing algorithms, deciphering statistics and designing variables in pursuit of a master’s degree in public administration (with a concentration in financial management), Marr has started to realize it’s the social aspect of government that turns him on. It’s the combination of people coming together — and well-documented research — that will help change the planet.

All of which puts him — a policy wonk who loves to promote the safety and sanity of riding a bike in a city — in a pretty important position.

Marr came to Savannah on a post-graduate fellowship for a stint in the city manager’s office after winning the Outstanding Graduate Student Award at the University of Illinois in Chicago. At first he followed the numbers game he knew so well, analyzing, among other things, the efficiency of Savannah’s city buildings. Then he started meeting environmental types, like Sean Brandon — another management fellow and now the city’s director of parking and mobility, as well as a diehard bicyclist.

Through Brandon and others, Marr became a member of the Savannah Bicycle Campaign, a burgeoning group of enthusiasts that is very savvy, organized and high-profile.

Then, a year and a half ago, he and his wife, both from the state of Washington, had a son, Henry Wilder.

“That kind of changed things for me,” Marr said, a big grin spreading across his boyish face. “When it looked as if the city wasn’t going to have enough money to hire me, I resigned and started working with Step Up Savannah.”

Because if Step Up Savannah, the city’s premier poverty-reduction organization, is about anything at all it’s about collaboration. That and putting some fresh eyes on an old problem.

It has been a great fit for Marr. At Step Up, he gets to work with underemployed people trying to find jobs, for starters, in construction and health care.

He gets to help them with customer service skills — things we may take for granted — and employable skills, like how to install the rain barrels that the city has made available to the public.

But Marr, even-tempered and soft-spoken, is not one to burn his bridges.

He may have left the city’s employ, but that doesn’t mean he left the relationships he made in City Hall.

He’s just as involved now in the city’s efforts toward a safer, more bike-friendly Savannah than he was when he worked there. And he gets to use his well-honed research skills.

As the education chairman and board member of the Savannah Bicycle Campaign, Marr conducts a yearly audit and analysis of the origin of the city’s bike accidents.

He should have the results of this year’s survey in a few weeks.

With the help of a group of fellow volunteers, he carefully and tediously culls through all the police reports from earlier accidents involving bikes to get a handle on how and why they are happening.

From earlier surveys, Marr confirms what the rest of us can see: More people are riding bikes, some for recreation, others for economics. Which means there are more accidents.

There are the usual reasons: no headlights at night, going the wrong way on a one-way street, wearing headphones or texting and not hearing the approaching semi, driving intoxicated.

Six of the roughly 41 accidents in 2009 occurred from bicyclists entering the road from the sidewalk, he said. That is a no-no. Without an exact count yet, Marr estimates there were between 63 and 68 accidents in 2010.

“Cyclists have to be predictable and deliberate,” he said. “They have to learn to use eye contact and hand signals.”

One thing that’s not predictable is the number of people wearing helmets. It was 5 percent in 2009. Marr predicts the same for 2010.

To help new riders, especially students at SCAD, many who are riding bikes for the first time, Marr and his cohorts offer quarterly in-depth traffic skills workshops. The next one is May 21 at the Bicycle Link bike shop on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. Every two months the campaign organizes Bicycle Rodeos for children and their parents.

Marr is working with the city on improving connectivity within the city. The next major bike lane (and on-street parking) Marr expects to see would be on Price Street between Bay Street and Victory Drive. His dream bike route would be Liberty and Louisville streets.

“Bicyclists fare best when they operate like and are treated like operators of vehicles,” Marr said. “We can only do so much trying to educate drivers. We get a much bigger bang for the buck when we can educate cyclists.”